Andrew Constable, Ph.D.

Research

Andrew Constable is principal research scientist for the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre. Constable’s Pew fellowship focused on the Southern Ocean ecosystem and its dependence on krill at the base of its food web. Knowing that the Antarctic krill fishery could greatly affect the Southern Ocean and that climate change may confound any signals of the effects of fishing, he set out to ensure that managers had the proper tools to prepare. For instance, the Ecosystem Monitoring Program (CEMP) of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) needed to be adapted to correctly signal when the krill fishery needs to be altered to avoid undesirable effects on predators, including not impeding recovery of depleted whales, despite uncertainty surrounding climate change impacts. Constable developed computer simulations (management strategy evaluation) to understand the role of krill throughout the ecosystem and how krill can be threatened by fishing, predators, and climate. The results were used by CCAMLR to adapt CEMP and adjust krill fishing strategies to be ecologically sustainable. It was a primary example for designing ecosystem-based fisheries management in high seas areas. To learn more about Constable, visit his bio online. http://acecrc.org.au/people/dr-andrew-constable/

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